The harvest of Primofiori lemons is underway with delays in the main producing areas due to the lack of commercial sizes as a result of low rainfall this summer. For the time being, volumes continue to be limited. In addition to the small sizes, there has been a drop of approximately 10% in the production expected for this season in the case of the Primofiori and of about 15% in the case of the Verna.
"It has hardly rained at all since the summer started this year. While there were good rains at the end of September and some also in early October, right now it has not rained for more than 15 days," said Enrique Fuentes, commercial director of the Murcian company Hijos de Alberto del Cerro.
The transition between the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere has been carried out in an orderly fashion this year, due to the fact that fruit stocks in countries such as South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile have run out much earlier than in the previous season. "This has helped a lot," said Enrique Fuentes. "The demand is not particularly high and prices, although trending slightly downwards, are holding up only because the supply is more limited compared to last year. If the supply was greater, we would not be getting the same prices."
The Spanish supply therefore has a dominant position in the European markets, where there has also been a noticeable drop in the supply from Turkey. "The Turkish lemon production is smaller in the case of the early varieties, but it seems that they will have a good harvest of later varieties, such as the Lamas, which may put some pressure from January onwards," said the commercial director of Hijos de Alberto del Cerro.
While prices are holding up as a result of the lower supply of lemons, there is uncertainty as regards consumption in the autumn and winter months. "Consumers have less money available for the shopping basket as a result of the current global inflation crisis. At the moment, we are seeing this trend especially in Scandinavian and Northern European countries, where the cold weather has already arrived," said Enrique Fuentes.
For more information:
Enrique Fuentes
Hijos de Alberto del Cerro
C/ Mayor, 372.
30139 El Raal, Murcia. Spain
T: +34 968600162
M: +34 696982440
enrique@albertodelcerro.com
www.albertodelcerro.com